Industry Landscapes

Glad this year is finally over? Us too! In its annual outlook, Skift Research looks forward to the big themes and challenges that it believes are in store for the travel industry as it begins the long uphill climb to recovery next year.

It’s finally here! Skift Research has been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get its hands on Airbnb’s public filings. This report analyzes the challenges and strategies of the most influential company in the short-term rental industry.

History doesn’t repeat but it often rhymes. While COVID-19 has different root causes than the financial crisis of 2008 there are still lessons to be learned from the last crisis that apply to the travel industry today.

The online travel industry is marginally better positioned to deal with this current outbreak than many of their suppliers in the hotel and airline industry. But the damage is only getting worse. It will still be severe and long-lasting.

We are headed into a winter for travel startups. But travel won't be gone forever. And history teaches us that startups are often the first to pinpoint our industry’s new direction as we exit a crisis.

Outbound travel from the Middle East hasn’t garnered the attention of some other outbound markets, but given the high travel expenditure and growth of the region, we think this is one that’s worth paying attention to.

We head into 2020 with more question marks than any year of this cycle. Risks are rising and the global economy is slowing. But, crucially, we are still growing and our base case forecast travel growth to continue next year.

Wellness has long been an important part of the travel experience, but it has just recently exploded as a full-fledged trend. Travel industry stakeholders looking to attract wellness-minded consumers need to understand what wellness tourism means today in order to successfully find a place within it.

As many as four out of the next five new outbound travelers in the next decade could come from the emerging world. Are you prepared for the center of gravity in travel to shift?

Overtourism is one of the biggest challenges faced by the travel industry. Quantifying it helps diagnose and fight the issue. Our new method of measuring local sentiment toward tourists can build upon and complement existing overtourism metrics.

In the third iteration of this survey, we give an in-depth look at how the modern American travelers’ values, attitudes, and behaviors have changed or remained constant over time.

Analyzing startups helps us understand what the future of travel holds. The latest generation of startups promises innovation across many facets of travel: hospitality, tours, airlines, business travel, and more.